After years of planning and a bit of controversy, construction of a memorial that’ll be placed in Los Gatos to honor area veterans as well as first responders and 9/11 heroes finally has begun.

The memorial, to be built in a redwood grove on the front lawn of the town’s civic center, will feature a flame sculpture containing a soldier’s cross — a rifle standing upright in a pair of boots with a helmet on top. At night, the flame will be illuminated.

On Friday, the Veterans Memorial and Support Foundation of Los Gatos held a groundbreaking ceremony and reception to kick off the project.

The foundation, which includes a number of prominent residents and has spearheaded the project, hopes the memorial will be ready for a dedication ceremony on Memorial Day, said former mayor John Lochner, a member of the foundation’s board.

“It’s quite consoling for a veteran to come home and see this and be able to sit there and think about his service and what this represents to all veterans,” said Lochner, who served as an Army combat engineer in Germany during the Korean War.

Designed by Frank Kocian Morris, the memorial is being constructed in the artist’s hometown of Memphis and will be transported to California when done.

The foundation is trying to raise more than $2.5 million for the project, originally expected to cost about $1.5 million. Some of the money would fund programs that support veterans, Lochner said, adding that the foundation will “arrange financing” if it doesn’t raise the full amount. So far, the group has collected about $1.5 million, Lochner said.

In addition to the central flame sculpture, the memorial will feature, as a tribute to first responders, a historic fire bell that used to sit in the Los Gatos Town Plaza. There also will be a section honoring two Los Gatos High School graduates — Todd Beamer and Mark Bingham — who lost their lives in a heroic effort to stop hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed into a field in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001.

The foundation also is selling walkway pavers, both as a fundraiser and as a way for residents to honor specific family members or friends who served in the military.

The aim of the memorial, Lochner said, is not to focus on South Bay veterans alone but also to provide a place for people to honor veterans — both those who died in combat and those who did not — from across the country. Water features and quiet places to sit will be part of the memorial.

“We anticipate this to be a world-class memorial,” Lochner said.

The proposal wasn’t without controversy. An initial plan several years ago to put a memorial in another part of town was scrapped. And after residents voiced concerns about walls proposed as part of the project being unwelcoming and overbearing, a wall originally planned for the section honoring first responders was ditched to allow the adjacent New Museum to be more visible from the street.

Lochner said he hopes that when it’s complete, the memorial will bring comfort to veterans and their families and help those who have served transition back into civilian life.